What is the Credential / Pilgrims passport?

The pilgrim passport, also called pilgrim credential or credencial, is a small booklet in which you collect stamps. In Santiago, you take it to the Pilgrims’ Office to receive your Compostela.

The pilgrim credential is your proof that you are a pilgrim. If you want to stay in a public pilgrim albergue, it gives you access.

In other places, your pilgrim credential may also get you discounts on accommodation or food, for example in the form of a reduced pilgrim’s menu.

And finally, after arriving in Santiago you need your pilgrim credential to prove that you really walked the Camino de Santiago and that you have earned your Compostela.

Not standardized — because there is no single “official” pilgrim credential. The pilgrim passport is issued by different institutions and therefore comes in different designs.

What they all have in common is that on the first page your name, your Camino route, your start date, and your means of travel are recorded (you can also do the Camino on horseback or by bicycle).

On the following pages there is space for the stamps you collect.

But beware — if you collect stamps too enthusiastically, your pilgrim passport can be full before you reach Santiago. In that case you will need a second passport (which you cannot always obtain everywhere along the way), or you continue your collection on loose paper that you later glue in.

Of course, it’s nicer if one Camino fits into a single pilgrim passport.

My tip: Count the number of stamp boxes and divide it by your planned walking days. That way you’ll get a feel for how many extra stamps will fit into your pilgrim passport.

You can order the pilgrim credential in advance from your local Camino association; in the US for example it is the Americans Pilgrims Association.

Alternatively, you can buy it on site. At the classic starting points such as Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, León, Lisbon, Porto, or Ferrol, you will either find a pilgrim office, get it at the cathedral, or find a separate sales point.

There are no fixed prices.

The special pilgrim credential for the Camino Finisterre, for example, is available free of charge at the tourist office in Santiago.

If you pick up your pilgrim credential at the cathedral in Porto, you pay €2.

The St. James societies usually send it out in exchange for a donation; the German society asks for €10.

Yes — but you get something back. The pilgrim passport is often a much more beautiful keepsake than the pilgrim certificate, the Compostela.

Because behind many stamps there is a story. Some stamps are unusually beautiful; others remind you of a very special evening.

This varies quite a bit.

You can (almost) always get stamps in:

• a pilgrim office

• a cathedral or an important church along the way

• a public (state-run) or church-run pilgrim hostel

• a private hostel or accommodation geared toward pilgrims

In addition, cafés, bars, and shops along the route also attract pilgrims with stamps. You can often recognize them by a scallop shell displayed in the window or by advertising a pilgrim menu.

Smaller churches and chapels also often have stamps, provided they are open.

As a general rule: two per day.

Ideally, you get one stamp in the morning before you set off and one in the evening when you arrive. That way the Pilgrims’ Office can see which town you were in in the morning and where you ended your day, and whether it all makes sense.

The stamps do not have to be different. You can use the stamp from the accommodation in the morning where you already got your evening stamp.

You can also collect stamps along the way. If you only get your first stamp halfway through a stage in a bar because everything was closed in the morning, that does not jeopardize your Compostela.

The rules have recently changed.

In the past, the rule was simply: the last 100 km must be proven.

The new rules are more flexible. It still has to be 100 km, but they do not have to be the last 100 km. Only the final stage into Santiago is mandatory; the remaining kilometers can be completed on another section of the Camino.

However, note the following:

1. The kilometers must be chronological — you cannot jump back and forth.

2. 70 km of them must be in Spain. This is not a problem on the Camino Francés or the Camino del Norte, but the Camino Portugués includes many kilometers outside Spain. So if you walk from Porto to the Spanish border, then take the train to Padrón and walk the final stage, you will not receive the Compostela.

In theory yes, in practice no.

During Covid, a digital pilgrim passport was introduced — an app that allows you to scan QR codes along the route and collect digital stamps.

In principle a very good idea, but it never really caught on.

There are hardly any QR codes to be found, and most hostels and churches where I tried my luck had never even heard of the concept.

I am not aware of a single case in which someone who truly walked the Camino was denied the Compostela because a stamp was missing.

Especially if you are walking more than just the last 100 km, it is not a disaster if something doesn’t work out somewhere or if you simply forget a stamp.

In some regions, on lesser-known Caminos, it can also be difficult at times to get stamps at all. The staff at the Pilgrims’ Office know this and do not make it your problem.

However, if you have only collected a stamp here and there occasionally, it can happen that this is not sufficient as proof. But a single missing stamp — especially if you have walked 200 km or more — is generally not a problem.